Thursday, April 25, 2013

Hey Guys!!!


  I've had a pretty super stressful week here at the MTC, but nothing that I can't handle. The teachers here have really stepped up their teaching. Now we actually have entire classes in Hmong. We would normally plan out about an hour for gospel and an hour for language study, but now they've kind of merged the two together so it's one big block of Hmong/Gospel study. We don't have to respond yet in Hmong, but I've found that if I think carefully enough, I can answer a lot of questions with the very few words I know. There are a couple of staples that I have learned you can use in almost any answer. Really most of the questions come back to God (Vajtswv, vah joo) Jesus Christ (Yexus Khetos, Yaysoo Kaytah) the Holy Ghost (Tus Vaj ntsus plig daub huv, Too Vanjoo Plee Dow Hoo) and prayer (Thov vajtswv, Toh vah joo). I just try to do my best to answer these questions as best I can. I have a little red book that I lovingly titled the "I Don't Know That Word Book". I take it around with me absolutely EVERYWHERE!! I have found that most of our classroom lessons revolve around gospel topics, leaving a gap in my knowlege about things not related to the gospel. These are the kinds of things that I've been writing down in my book. So far, just in the past weeks lessons, I have found out that one of our investigators was NTSHAI (Nch eye, afraid) of what his family would think of him being baptized. We had been struggling with him for weeks to know why he didn't want to be baptized. We learned Dag Xwb (dah soo, just kidding) and I've used that a TON, especially with my companions. This book has really become the key to my learning. I even have the first vision in Hmong in it.

I guess the bisggest surprise of the day is that for the first time since we've been here, we didn't wake up at 4:30 on P-day... I've had some mixed feelings about it so far. It was nice getting the extra two hours of sleep, and I really like that I haven't been tired today yet... But the reason we normally do get up at 4:30 is to do our laundry, which I have yet to do. We looked into the laundry room and it is absolutely PACKED!! There wasn't a washer open... We only have until 4:00 tonight to get it done, or else we won't be able to. (4:00 is kind of the official end of our p-day. Our tuesday night devotional is at 6, dinner at 5, and language study at 4).

Yesterday by the final few minutes of class, everyone including our teacher was stressed out, and exhausted. (all of our teachers have had their finals at BYU this week.) When it came time for us to close with a prayer I volunteered. All of our prayers are in Hmong so I started out like normal. "Au Vajtswv, peb leej txiv saum ntuj ceeb tsheej" (Oh vah joo, pay lang tsee show ndoo gang chang, Oh God, Our father in Heaven), but one of my companions, Elder Cook, dropped everything out of his pocket and whispered Ay oh! Basically just "oops" in Hmong. This got Elder Hardy to chuckle, but I kept going... Throughout the prayer I'd hear Elder Hardy Giggle, but I kept pressing forward... Right as I was about to finish, he started full out laughing, which made me laugh, which started the whole class, teacher included, laughing. All I had to say was "Los Ntawm Yexus Khetos lub npe, amee," but I couldn't get it out!!! It took me a couple tries but I eventually spit it out and we all laughed for a good 2 or 3 minutes after that... Honestly though, I think God knew that everyone in the room needed that at that moment, because it relieved all of the stress and tension in the room.

I love getting mail from everyone!! The other day, on one of the hardest days I've had in the MTC, I got a package and a letter from the sweet Wach family. Their letter said so much I needed to hear at that time, and they also sent a new tie. At that moment I knew that my Heavenly Father really was watching out for me, and He was aware of what my needs were at that time. I enjoy everybody's letters so much, and sometimes, just so I have something to look forward to, I save them until the end of my last class at 8:30 so that I can better savor every single word. There have been multiple times from multiple people when I have read and laughed out loud, or nearly started to cry. The support that I have from everyone is really what's given me the drive to work my behind off. I love every single one of you, and I am so so so sorry that I haven't written so many of you back. I'm going to try harder to send letters back as many times as I can.

Well, my time for this week is up!! I love you guys, be good, and Hasta La Vista!!!

Elder Lis Xeeb!!

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